Before there was a Twitter, camera or even a telegraph, the results of the Olympics were transmitted via carrier pigeon. Our technology has come a long way since the ancient Greek Games. Over the last few decades, advances have brought the Olympics to the living room and smartphone, redesigned a torch that can travel from the depths of the Great Barrier Reef to the peak of Mount Everest and unveiled unparalleled timing accuracy that can measure down to a millionth of a second.
From closed circuit to 3-D broadcast
The Berlin Games in 1936 was the first Olympics shown on television, but the broadcast was available only on a closed circuit to several viewing halls within the city.
The 1948 London Olympics marked the establishment of a broadcast rights fee. While the BBC agreed to pay 1,000 guineas, or about $3,000, the payment was rejected by the Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games over concerns about the network's finances. The BBC's live coverage totaled about 64 hours and was limited to a 50-mile radius in London, reaching about 500,000 viewers.
In 1960, CBS broadcast the first U.S. telecast of the Olympics. When officials were unsure whether a skier missed a gate during the Squaw Valley Winter Games, they asked CBS to review its tape, leading to the creation of instant replay.
Fast forward to 2012, and TV networks worldwide are expected to broadcast more than 61,000 hours and reach 4.8 billion people in 200 countries and territories. It is also the first Olympics to introduce live 3-D coverage, totaling more than 230 hours. The Olympic Broadcasting Services is expected to produce 5,600 hours of coverage, compared with 5,000 for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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